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The flavour of Kolkata

Kolkata Maidan- The lungs of the city. Lovingly shot by Arindam Patra.

Thursday, January 05, 2017

The khiri kebab in UP Bihar Restaurant

I first heard of this dish more than five years back in a business meeting with Nizam's manager. He strongly recommended us to check it out at their adjacent restaurant Moghul Garden (which is basically the section of Nizam's that serves beef) in New Market. He also mentioned that it was unlike a beef kebab as it was made of cow’s udder.

About two years back, my deputy was raving about this eatery with a strange name - UP Bihar Restaurant. She had loved the beef dishes she had there the previous evening and being a fellow foodie, mentioned it as a must-visit place serving awesome khiri kebab. I bookmarked the restaurant mentally to check it out.

I still couldn’t make it there though I passed by it or took a nearby road countless times. Then t2 (the tabloid supplement of The Telegraph) gave the final nudge. In a one-page article earlier this week on beef delicacies to look for this season which covered UP Bihar Restaurant, khiri kebab was the only dish mentioned if one visited the restaurant in the evening. I turned up the same evening.

It’s a few outlets away from Nizam’s. An old and worn-out place which has resisted change with time and pretty downmarket in appearance and nature. It appears to be a restaurant owned by a Muslim family from Bihar or UP and frequented by Muslim customers for its beef dishes among other things. The place is not small and has old Kolkata-style small curtained cabins for family dining at one side. It serves the cheapest of meals to the blue-collar working class as evident from the multiple printouts pasted on the walls showing rice and dal available at Rs 8 and 6 only. There are some basics in place but - attired waiters and mouth freshener post-dining for instance.

The khiri kebab that came quickly looked inviting. And the first few bites told me why it was such a gushed-about dish. It’s unlike any beef dish I had experienced before (largely because of the body part it is made of). The small chunks of meat finished on tawa with onion rings and a dash of chilli were soft, juicy, a wee bit chewy and worked a lethal charm for the tastebuds. The chewiness is in fact part of the sensorial experience (it’s sort of what you get in gizzard). There were tiny burns at places but the taste merits overlooking it.

If you are a passionate foodie looking for just good food and don’t care for the ambience for the sake of it, go and savour the khiri kebab in which UP Bihar Restaurant proclaims specialization. And you don’t get better value for money with twenty pieces at just Rs 92! Over everything, it will give you a pure old Kolkata experience which I love!

My next visit doesn't look too far and I would like to check out its beef biryani in particular.